a??a??a??a??a??a??a??Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a Play with Music will make its New York City Debut in December 2019 with twelve performances across four city landmarks after last year's successful run in Boston. This two-man production features Dickens' original language supported by beloved Christmas songs and old-fashioned Foley-style sound effects, all performed live (see video sneak-peek here).
NANCY REDMAN RETURNS - AGAIN - TO THE UNITED SOLO FESTIVAL as The Best Of The Festival's First Decade with a repeat performance of 'AT WIT'S END: A HOME FOR RETIRED COMICS'.
Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) (William Carden, Artistic Director), along with EST's Youngblood (Graeme Gillis and RJ Tolan, Co-Artistic Directors) are proud to announce new EST/Youngblood members for the 2019-2020 season.
Outcry Youth Theatre is once again challenging its young performers with the hilarious comedy The Cripple of Inishmaan, from brilliant Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. McDonagh has been nominated for four Tony Awards, and is also the writer/director of the Academy Award winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Camden People's Theatre have today announced that they have secured funding from Arts Council England to redevelop their performance space, rehearsal space and transform their foyer for the first time after 25 years in situ.
Clearly, the story of a king who would, legally speaking, seem like the safest person in the land, but who nonetheless is slain, as is his lover, because their relationship is considered taboo, seems facially like a perfect vehicle to provide that treatment. But it simply isn't, or at least not without more work. There are too many complications unique to a royal situation, as this play cannot help showing.
What you'll find at the end of a long, foggy hall with ominous flickering lights is the home of Lurie and June Walker. Come on in when you get here. Walk across the creaky kitchen floor and take a seat in one of the old wooden chairs along the walls. Don't mind the noises. Don't worry about those sharp flashes of light. You're safe. You're in a a?oegooda??...
It's probably just a coincidence, but two fine plays currently running at two award-winning regional theaters share an unusual commonality. Both focus on the issue of white privilege and the prevailing attitude that acknowledging its existence will end it. In THE THANKSGIVING PLAY at Lyric Stage Company of Boston, the idea is to honor Native Americans in an elementary school play without benefit of any of them participating. In ADMISSIONS, receiving its Boston premiere at SpeakEasy Stage Company, a couple of white liberal educators work hard to expand racial diversity at their small New England prep school, but their progressive values are tested when their exceptional son's Ivy League dreams are derailed. Remarkably, there are no indigenous people or people of color on stage in either production, an intentional, pointed omission by the playwrights.
Goodspeed Musicals has announced this year's cast of A Connecticut Christmas Carol - the musical treat infused with Connecticut flavor by LJ Fecho and Michael O'Flaherty. Perfect for the holidays, A Connecticut Christmas Carol, the family-friendly take on the Dickens classic, will return to The Terris Theatre December 4 - 28, 2019. This production is supported in part by the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Masonicare at Chester Village and GKN Aerospace Services Structures Corporation.
Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce that Charly Evon Simpson is the recipient of the 2019-20 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award. Ms. Simpson will be presented with the award at The Vineyard's annual Emerging Artists Luncheon on Monday, November 25 from noon-2:30pm at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South) in Manhattan.
HAIR was written more than 50 years ago by Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermot and broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of 'rock musical' as well as using a racially integrated cast and inviting the audience onstage to join in the a?oeBe-Ina?? finale. But at the time it opened off Broadway at the end of 1967, it seemed unlikely that HAIR would be relevant five decades later. A product of the hippie counter-culture, sexual revolution, and Vietnam War protests of the late 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-war movement, while its profanity, depiction of the use of illegal drugs, treatment of open sexuality, irreverence for the American flag, and full-frontal nude scene caused much comment and controversy at the time. Yet today it seems what was shocking has become so common place that even a few children were in the audience at the performance I attended.
La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for its upcoming presentation of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of Cambodian Rock Band, by UC San Diego MFA Playwriting alumna Lauren Yee, directed by Chay Yew, featuring music by Dengue Fever. A co-production with Portland Center Stage at The Armory, Cambodian Rock Band will run November 12 a?" December 15 (press opening: Sunday, November 17 at 7pm) in the Playhouse's Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.
The Basel-Kiene Family joins City Beverages in presenting PlayFest. Orlando Shakes in partnership with UCF's PlayFest 2019 is set for November 1 a?" 3 and 8 a?" 9, 2019 and features seven readings of new plays in development.
Los Angeles' famed Groundlings Theatre has announced the addition of three new members to The Main Company, also known as a?oeThe Groundlings.a?? Chris Guerra, Leonard Robinson and Samantha DeSurra were invited to join The Groundlings after having completed The Groundlings' School training program and performed in the Sunday Company for 18 months.
Florida Studio Theatre (FST) will present Outlaws and Angels, a rousing revue celebrating the a?oeoutlawsa?? of country music and the a?oeangelsa?? who loved them. Sharing tales of hard knocks and lively living, Outlaws and Angels honors the rebels of the past and explores their connection to the country music of today. Beginning November 20 in FST's Goldstein Cabaret, Outlaws and Angels features such hits as a?oeI Walk the Line,a?? a?oeDesperado,a?? and a??Ramblin' Man.a?? This brand new musical revue by Rebecca Hopkins and Richard Hopkins includes arrangements by Jim Prosser. Single tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at (941) 366-9000 or floridastudiotheatre.org.
The Blank Theatre in Hollywood has announced a Living Room Series Plus presentation of Hot Tragic Dead Thing by Ashley Rose Wellman, directed by Christopher James Raymond. There will be six performances only beginning November 14.
Irish Repertory Theatre announces full casting for London Assurance, written by Dion Boucicault (The Shaughraun) and directed by Charlotte Moore (The Plough and the Stars). Performances begin on December 6, 2019 on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage (132 W 22nd Street) with an opening night set for December 15, for a limited run through January 26, 2020.
Florida Studio Theatre (FST) presents Deck the Halls!: A Holly Jolly Holiday, an all-new musical celebration of everything that makes the holidays in Sarasota special. Families join five magical elves on a musical adventure as they celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah in true Floridian fashion. Performances of Deck the Halls! take place on every Saturday and Sunday, from November 30 to December 28 in FST's Bowne's Lab Theatre.
Readers.
This article below appeared in UD Daily. As a theatre critic for the past 35 years, I have had the singular privilege of attending perhaps 90% of the productions since 2008 at The Roselle Center. UD Rep Ensemble's quality in both onstage and technical aspects rivals and contends with ANY professional company in America.
ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE (EST) and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Doron Weber, Vice-President, Programs) along with the EST/Sloan Project, are pleased to announce new EST/Sloan commissions for the 2019-2020 season.
.jpg?format=auto&width=365)
